Jump to content

English vs English


deanb
 Share

Recommended Posts

Not a massive fan of the use of typography there. It was just a jumbled mess until the dénouement. While somewhat unrelated to the topic, this (in my opinion) is one of the best uses of the style that I've seen, it gives the audio some personality, adds to the story rather than just throwing it all down for a punchline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because I used it elsewhere, I wanted to know if 'penny-pinching' made sense to Americans.

 

It means to be either very careful or very stingy with your money. Wasn't sure if 'pinching' could also mean stealing/nicking to Americans. As if someone would be going around stealing pennies to save up money. :P

 

Which leads onto 'being pinched' also meaning 'being nicked', as in arrested. If you've ever seen episodes of The Sweeney or Life On Mars, this might make more sense.

 

But essentially you could be pinched for pinching or nicked for nicking.

Edited by Hot Heart
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, really? Thanks. Figured with it being pennies and all it might never have been an American thing (not that English slang never made it over there...).

 

Nicked and pinched thing is a slang thing that you might see in gangster films or police dramas.

 

"You're nicked!" is generally associated with The Sweeney, whereas it might be criminals saying somebody got pinched. Sometimes there is that slang that's easy to grasp without knowing the context.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree wholeheartedly with that video.

 

Ditto. I'd even go with a $1 coin. I'll even go so far as to agree with Barry when he says we should think about changing our coinage to make it less expensive. I'd eliminate the penny and make the nickel out of a different metal.

 

In Canada, we killed the $0.50 cent coin, brought in a standard $1 coin and killed the $1 bill, then later replaced the $2 bill with a coin and it's pretty convenient I guess. I hardly noticed the difference! Oddly enough though... pennies everywhere, still. Most small stores have a little tray full of them that you can give or take from freely if you want to pay with exact change. My wallet gets too fat when I carry real money in it - I tend to leave coins smaller than a quarter at home.

 

Also, apparently all the coins under a dollar are plated steel now. This is off on a tangent, but I have a 1 yen coin and it's pure aluminum! (or aluminium for some of you. ;) ) I wonder how much that costs to make...

Edited by fuchikoma
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

before it ruins another joke (what's the difference between a tyre and 364 condoms?):

 

Tyre = tire = the round, usually black, rubber thing with an inner-tube that helps your car gain traction on the road.

 

 

One is a Goodyear, the other is a bloody good year

 

 

Also it's good this is English only cos that tyre joke led to discussion that led to:

Raz: Here are all the times you can have a verb in: Indicatif: Présent, Passé Simple, Passé Composé, Passé Antérieur, Imparfait, Futur Simple, Plus-Que-Parfait, Future Antérieur (PAST FUTURE!) Subjonctif: Présent, Passé Imparfait, Plus-Que-Parfait Conditionel: Présent, Passé première forme (FIRST FORM PAST), Passé deuxième forme (SECOND!) Impératif: Présent, Passé Participe: Présent, Passé Infiniti: Présent, Passé, Gérondif: Présent, Passé

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was reminded of this thing when I saw this clip of Nolan North during the Eurogamer Expo.

 

He says 'Graham' as 'Gram' whereas English people say it more like 'Gray-um'.

I think I first noticed it when I saw how 'Graham Crackers' was said on some TV show (I've not actually seen those crackers over here).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...